My first question: How is the economy treating everyone, how are you holding up?

Me?

Pretty much the same as most I guess: tight money, job worries, bills suck, and my budget blows. But don't get me wrong, not all is black and dark. I'm still having fun, goofing around, playing, and smiling. I'm just ready for the tightening to loosen up (don't think that will happen soon though).

Work? Busy as Hell.

The update: They halved our teams in the layoffs and reorganization, they have now asked for 150% more productivity (with half the people? ouch.), and they have recently warned us we may not get any raises this year...if we do, they'll be paltry.

The lack of pay increase is tough (and halves what I got last year...we've been behind the cost of living for a long time as well), but the news wasn't unexpected by me. It's OK though--I kept my job and benefits.

Still, it's been hectic and I don't feel totally safe yet. I kind of expect another round of layoffs if the economy stays so black--our team is poised for easy cutting and outsourcing if they decided to do so.

This all said, my new manager, my team, and the overall work environment have continued to be great; it's odd to have the stress and still have a great morale and team environment--it rocks. This was most pleasant coming out of the huge changes we all went through.

Personal life?

I've been real busy as a social butterfly (I'm going out too much), with networking, with creative community/project building, and yet I've even been taking more time to hole up and deflate; I call it "going dark"--I go offline (cell, net, etc.), shut down the computers, phones, and I kick back and try to recharge the sanity batteries. Maybe I'll throw on some nondescript music in the background, but mostly I'll just sip some wine or other notable libations as I read, write, or solo game.

I've also started some side projects that I've had on the burner for a while and I'm starting to get back into some creative endeavors...I've even started dreaming of unknown blonds. :o)

This is because of my insomnia treatment.

Traditionally, I don't even go for blonds really...do I? I should evaluate that.

This year (since last March), has been horrid. I've averaged 3-4 hours of sleep. I'm most often up by 2AM-3AM and don't fall asleep until 11PM. This gets me into work by 4AM most days and I stay until 2:30PM.

Believe it or not, I'm holding up well, but it does kick my ass at times. I have a lot of sleep deprivation experience after 22 years. It sucks, but I can function thanks to the glorious caffeine molecule (or is it a compound? I have to look that up).

Anyway, they recently took me off of a sleep medicine they'd had me on for years; I was having side affects I didn't know about--never felt sick though. Once off, I started dreaming occassionally. I haven't had a real dream in years. So, what's the first dream of a guy? unknown mystery girls. Big surprise! LOL!! :o)

It's pretty funny, because I'm not even looking for any!

Being off the medication has also brought me significant weight loss--just by stopping. 20 pounds gone so far. How crazy is that? I barely eat and had been gaining weight all year. It was most odd. I had no clue it was a side effect.

We stopped the medicine because it didn't seem to be helping anymore even though we upped the dosage during the crazy months where I was in layoff limbo. My sleep pattern hadn't changed and I wasn't seeing results.

More treatment to come, I'm being sent to a new specialist at the U. I just want some more normal hours and a bit more energy.

So there ya go, there's my personal update. What do you all have going on?

Thanks for the times and conversations!
--Jason Henke